Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the least amount of time spent in an open prison by a prisoner was before (a) absconding and (b) breaching prison regulations in each of the last five years.

To answer either part of this question it is necessary to look at the record of every prisoner who has been in an open prison and either absconded or breached prison disciplinary regulations in the last five years, in order to identify the date of transfer to open conditions and make a calculation. This could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Figures for the number of absconds, by prison, since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225234/prison-performance-digest-12-13.xls